Heart Thief
by Mannoth
Summary: The Khajiit Norn never aspired to be much. But when making a living in Skyrim turns out to be much more challenging a prospect than he could have expected, he has to place his trust on a shadowy cat...who seems to be eerily interested in him.
1. Not As Planned

**While this is indeed my first post and form of activity here on this site, it is not my first work. I believe that this story starts out a little meek, but gets stronger as it goes on. I have plenty more where this came from, and I'll be updating it as it is ready.  
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**I had initially planned for the events I drifted through to have been more in-depth, complete with dialogue and observations, but I scrapped that in favor of a more suitable prologue. I like how it came out. Please feel free to give constructive criticism should you feel the desire to do so.**

It all happened too quickly.

I had just recently started off toward the small town of Riverwood—to move in and everything. Staying in Elsweyr with Thalmor breathing down my neck at every corner simply wasn't going to cut it any longer.

With a fairly sizeable amount of gold coins given to me by my parents and a fraction of magical power I had trained with for a couple years, I felt pretty ready for anything. But not everything, as I came to quickly find.

I suppose two words to describe me would be as follows: curious, inexperienced. Before I even knew what I was doing with that money, I had already spent it on magical tomes with which to further my arcane knowledge. And before I knew what I was doing with _those_, I had a frost experiment go wrong in my face—though, to say in the town's only cow's face would be more accurate.

The man standing not far away, doubtlessly the owner of said bovine, was after me quicker than my wits could inform me of what had just happened. And with that, I was chased out; by the man, and by a couple of guards from a town far north that apparently owned the little hamlet. That was that; I had already blown it.

But they didn't relent after just the borders of town, though. Oh no. I sprinted long after I crossed their bridge, long after I treaded the cobbled path. As wolves threatened to kill me, shortly then turning on my pursuers and meeting quick ends, I became badly beaten and tired. My legs continued carrying me nonetheless until I could nearly no longer breathe.

After a long forced pilgrimage, I could finally take refuge behind a waterfall in a spacious indentation, sure that I had lost my pursuers at last. I sat down to catch my breath, my vision blurry and nonsensical. I finally passed out as my lungs couldn't take in the massive amounts of air my body demanded, and across the terror and pain that dominated my brain, I was thankful that I could sleep.

I woke up much later, soggy from the waterfall a few feet away and miserable. I wanted to weep for the lost opportunity of Riverwood, my already-tarnished reputation, and my lack of a home to turn to. On top of it all, I didn't even know where I had gone in fear of the men who had so dearly wanted to kill me. _Such eagerness surely would not be shown to a Nord,_ I thought spitefully.

I gathered all of my belongings and prepared for a long journey. A journey I knew I would probably not return from alright this time—'alright', of course, being subjective. But I couldn't go yet. I sat down and pulled down my cowl, trying to calm my sorrow. It wasn't working. I had never felt so terrible in my life. Somehow, though, by some twist of fate or some interference of the gods, I wasn't going to die.

"You appear unwell."


	2. The Huntress

I leapt up at the sound and veered every which way, but couldn't find the source due to the echoing nature of my surroundings. A small, contained shuffling sound caught my attention to my right, where a shadowy figure sat in a relaxed, laid back position in the shade of the grotto. The figure spoke again.

"A jumpy one, I see." It giggled at my anxiety, at which I was not nearly as amused.

As it stood and slowly treaded closer, its form became clear. She was as me, a Khajiit. With a smooth, auburn-furred face and eyes that mercilessly pierced through me, her visage was both inconceivably brilliant to gaze upon and yet also oddly unsettling.

"I…uh, who are you?" I asked quickly, stumbling over my words. A question suddenly shoved itself to the forefront of my mind as I grew out of my initial start: how long had she been there?

"I am Meliana. I saw you running, from what I am not sure, and into this cave. Fortunate I had found the troll here before you did, for the consequences had I not surely are blatant."

I nodded slowly. I could surmise that she had been keeping an eye on me practically the whole time I was asleep.

"You look very sickly. I fetched you some salmon from the stream nearby. Are you alright?" My mind was still reeling from my tire and so it took me a moment to absorb all that she had told me. I nodded dumbly in the process, but then shook my head wildly.

"I'm feeling a…might sick. I'm not sure what it is."

It was true. Beyond the incredible pain I felt in the open wounds on my legs and that of excessive muscle use, I must have contracted something.

"Hmm…" Meliana hummed to herself as she knelt over to inspect me. As she lifted my legs and squeezed my calves, I looked into her determined gaze. Her captivating crimson eyes swept me into a prison from which I could scarcely escape.

She was stunning.

Her visage, though clouded slightly by a hood, appeared to be possessed by neither impurities nor damage of any kind. The rest of her body, however, was shrouded completely by a dark set of thin robes.

It was evident, by not only her choice of clothing but by also an unmistakable glimmer in her eyes, that she was surely a spellcaster and, from what I could assume, a more experienced one than I.

Suddenly, her eyes flicked up at my own, and I tore my gaze away from her. She smiled a small one to herself as she finished her inspection.

"Yes…you've gotten a bit of an infection. You haven't been out fighting wolves, have you?" My face flushed, but didn't want to tell her what had happened. She seemed to understand.

"Long story, I can tell. We've time, but let us save it for later. Your infection is dreadful. I can help you, but it will be some time. In the meantime, would you like some of the food I brought you?" Asked Meliana, holding out a lightly prepared fish in her hand. I had never thought that the look of something so familiar would bring so much heave to my stomach. I held out a palm and shook my head, trying to avert my gaze.

"Oh? You're sure? Must be part of the sickness. I've never seen a cat without his love for fish." She said quaintly, gathering a few samples from a pile of herbs she had with her. I agreed wordlessly.

Another question thrust itself to my attention, and this time I did not hesitate in sharing it.

"Why are you helping me?" Meliana did not stop picking out specific herbs from her collection as she responded nonchalantly.

"You _needed_ help. Simple as that. I couldn't bear to see you in so much pain, friend. And the fact that you could have walked right into a troll den as exhausted as you were didn't make me think you were any better off without me."

My heart drooped and rose accordingly as she spoke. But outwardly, I merely smiled.

"You have my eternal thanks, Meliana. My name is Norn. Without your help it is not unlikely that I would have perished."

Meliana stopped sifting through her herbs for a moment and seemed to look forward, her back to me, but then continued. I could only imagine what she was thinking.

"You are very welcome, Norn." All was silent for a few moments save for the brushing of alchemical ingredients against one another.

Finally they too stopped, and Meliana stood up with a handful. My heart leapt as she began to exit the cave. For whatever reason, I didn't want her to go.

"W-where you going, Meliana?" I stuttered a little and grunted as I tried to stand up, but found that the pain was too much. She turned her head, but not her body as she responded.

"I must make a potion to speed up your recovery. I don't imagine there would be any alchemy tables in a troll cave, so I'm going to head to a town called Whiterun to concoct it. Please, Norn…" She trailed off for a moment and gave me time to understand where she was going with it.

"…Stay here, okay? I don't want to have to go find you if you decide that an occupied bear home is safer than a vacant troll home. I won't be terribly long. You are free to drink some of the water from my satchel, and perhaps later you might feel up to the food I brought for you."

With that, she was gone from the cave in a single feline bound. My eyes slowly drooped to the ground in front of me as I realized she was gone.


	3. Growing Trust

I didn't know whether to be happy, sad, grievous, relieved, or any combination of the four. On the one hand, what I had just been through was undoubtedly awful, and the past day had comprised the worst state of my entire life. On the other though, I had met _her_. Doubtlessly the kindest person I'd ever met, and I knew it even then.

I complied with her offer of water after a short few moments of contemplation. The bliss of soothing a dry throat almost helped me take my mind off of the whole situation—though I did notice it seemed to smell a bit off. What to expect, though?

My eyes then veered to the cooked salmon on my right, and for the first time I noticed the small campfire Meliana had built while I was asleep. My hunger spoke to me, spoke to me words of wisdom—"Eat the food."

I was forced to acquiesce or stay starved the remainder of the night. My sleep would be troubled if I didn't, I knew. Eventually I caved in and slowly ate the prepared fish. Each bite I made as quick and painless as I could to prevent retching and uneasiness. It was difficult, but after I finished I was indeed no longer hungry.

I rested my body as I waited for Meliana's return. I scooted away from the splash of the falls and to the welcoming hearth-heat of the fire and curled my body around its familiar blaze, letting it drain away the water from my clothes and fur. I almost began to nod away a few times over the course of the uneventful hours of twilight, but managed to prevent it. After what must have been the twentieth unsuccessful ambush by sleep, I sat up.

Meliana would return soon. It had been a couple hours since she had left. Indeed, my hunch was correct—a shadow appeared next to the waterfall without sound of any kind not long after I spawned the thought. My ears perked and my pulse sped up just a bit.

"I see you are still here. Smart boy." I simply nodded.

Meliana brought down from her back an intricately styled bow and a quiver with only three finely-shafted arrows remaining inside—two of which had been stained with blood, surely wrenched back from her victims. I gulped, wondering just what it was she had killed.

"Wolves almost gave me trouble. Least, I knew they _would_. Got them down before they could notice me." What she said did not make me any less insecure, but I just blinked blankly. She reached into a satchel on the left of her hip and retrieved a sizeable flask filled to the brim with a purple-colored liquid.

"Drink this, Norn." She said simply. She did not bother with the details, assuming I could very well guess.

I slowly and cautiously took the flask from her, feeling the grip on its neck fade away as she let go. I hesitantly sniffed the contents and then gulped the whole thing down. I shuddered—it burned worse than liquor.

"It may hurt for a little while, but it's preferable to being stuck with a disease." Her dark pupils darted around the cave quickly and within the span of what could only have been a second, noticing the meal she had prepared for me was missing.

"And I see you have eaten? That's good. It will help you feel much better. Now then," she began, pulling out a folded cloak from the contents of her pack, "get some rest."

Meliana spread the cloak overhead like an all-encompassing shadow and then rested it as a blanket on my stiff being. I looked up to meet her face, but was disappointed to see that its attention was rested on the calming sounds of the falls.

"You certainly need your sleep. Rest well, fellow Khajiit." I did as she was told, almost immediately being taken in by dream's sweet embrace.

During my slumber, my dream was peculiar. A person of great importance—least, that's what my mind told me—stood before me in the shadows cast of a brilliant light. It stood stoic for a few moments, holding out its chest with heroism. Finally, it let out a deafening cry of indescribable nature, a call to the wild and a show of strength. I remained unharmed by the roar, the shout, despite my close proximity. As it turned to meet me, its visage almost became clear—

And then I woke once more.

**Before the question is asked: no, neither of them are involved with the Dragonborn.**


	4. Answers

My vision was terribly foggy, clearing up little by little as the minutes passed. The waterfall's roar became a numbing, vibrating ring in my head. I slowly began to remember where I was and what had happened—both during and before my dream. My mind raced as the tremendous person in the dream filled my blood with unknown vigor, as though just its presence inspired all to bask in its glory.

My breathing slowed down again. I recovered and remembered that none was real, despite how it had seemed. The cave around me suddenly felt welcoming and distant at the same time. Simultaneously, it came to my knowledge that I wasn't alone.

Indeed, as usual, stalking the shadows and watching me with an omnipresent gaze was none other than the huntress Meliana. She had noticed me get up from my daze, but not my notice of her presence. I decided that for once, I wanted to keep it that way and pretended to be unaware. It happened that she spoke anyway.

"Your sleep was fitful, Norn." I internally leapt in start, but kept my cool outside.

"It was but a dream. My thanks for your concern." She tilted her head in thought for a few moments, pondering it.

"I understand. About what?" It was becoming difficult to draw the line between genuine concern and nosiness, the latter of which Khajiit seem to have a sort of sixth sense for. Nonetheless, I described the events of my dream to her.

"Astounding. Sounds very familiar indeed." I looked up at her questioningly, at which she quietly sniffed in laughter.

"The Dragonborn have returned. The shout you described sounds much like the Dragonborn hero of Whiterun's Thu'um. Interesting." I shook my head in disbelief. I had heard small tell of the Dragonborn's arrival for the first time in centuries as I passed through Riverwood, but to find that it was all true?

"The Dragonborn…such is practically absurd. Yet, I cannot deny that I have seen mark of his presence in this land." Meliana smiled as though she knew exactly what I meant. All was silent for a few minutes.

"How are you feeling?" She inquired suddenly as she compounded more herbs inside a wooden bowl. I suddenly became self-conscious and inwardly checked myself. I was under a terrible migraine, but the wound was starting to seal itself up. I was still quite ill, though. I explained myself as best I could to my caretaker.

"I expected as much, though the migraine is a little odd. Here." She continued concocting another potion, then mixed it in some other substance. Finally she handed it to me, bending gracefully to reach my height on the ground. Inside the bowl was…breakfast meal.

"I mixed in the potion with soft food. It should be easier to eat than salmon, and hopefully it will help the salve go down easier." I could feel my chest blossom as she spoke the words, feeling a kind of…compassion I had scarcely felt before toward anyone other than my parents. I gratefully took the bowl from her and slowly obliged. Of course, one thing didn't make sense to me.

"My apologies for all the questions." I waited for a nod of approval from her, then continued.

"Did you not mention you needed an alchemy table to concoct elixirs such as this?" At this she turned and smiled.

"Well, I decided that we'd probably be in this situation for a while…so I merely borrowed some tools from Whiterun." She said with a wink. I smiled back and laughed aloud a little. She was certainly a Khajiit, but her cause was noble.

"Well, you have my thanks again, Meliana. Just another duty to which I owe greatly." She looked surprised as though she hadn't expected me to even mention such a thing.

"You owe me nothing. What I do is not for the sake of payment or favors from you." She gave me a stern look that conveyed at the same time a girlish delight, motherly concern, and a sense of humor. At this point I was unsurprised, but still unbelieving that someone could be so selfless. Whether she was looking for it or not, I planned on repaying her.

It would have to wait a while, though. I was in no condition to do much of anything, despite Meliana's best efforts to speed up my recovery. I sat again next to the fire, whose blaze was beginning to dim in the nip of the arctic cold. Holding my hands close to the light to maximize warmth, I looked back at Meliana. She had sat down surprisingly close to me and mimicked my attempts to stay warm.

"Would you say that now is a good time to explain yourself?" Her eyes glowed with curiosity as she looked at me. The look was soul-prying. I nodded wordlessly; it looked like she was going to hang around for a while this time. I prepared to tell my story of misfortune.

"I traveled from Cyrodiil to make a home and living in Riverwood. I…messed up, let us say. Next thing you know you're being chased out by Bretons and passing out in caves…" I trailed off.

"I never thought you much for words, Norn. But that's quite the tale you've got. I especially liked the part where you dodged what it was that you had 'messed up'." I could feel my face flush underneath the shade of my hood.

"Yes. You see, I'm a small practitioner of magic, and let's just say the proximity between me and the town's cow was, well, diminutive." She looked as though she was trying dearly not to laugh. I could sense that coming. But when her face straightened, she sighed and looked directly at me with those passionate, crimson eyes. If the fire's light hadn't blended in so well, there would be no hiding the redness in my face.

"And the infection?" I instinctively tugged at my leggings to hide it, had it been showing.

"Wolves felt brave that day. Lots of them. At least I can thank the Riverwood guards for something." She nodded slowly and turned her attention back to the fire. I scratched at my throat to alleviate an itch, only to find that the irritation was coming from the inside, much to my dismay. I coughed a little, but it still didn't go away.

Suddenly, my throat and lungs felt as though they had grown welts all over the inside. I broke into a coughing fit, but it didn't seem to stop. Meliana was quick to grab hold of me before I fell from my sitting position, panting heavily and coughing between every breath.

"You seem to be having quite a run of bad luck, friend. It doesn't look like it's going to end soon. Start to cure one disease, and you've got another just like that." As she snapped her fingers for emphasis, all sound turned to a loud whine, and my vision faded. I was out cold in her arms.


	5. Traitor or Savior?

No dream. There was nothing, not this time. It was an empty blackness—but one that somehow I, just conscious enough, was forced to bear through. I could hear nothing, see nothing. Each moment that passed; I could feel it, but do naught about it. All nine hours or more, the entire time I slumbered. A reason is what I wanted—just why such a strange, agonizing thing would happen.

Where I woke up after such torment was all the more mystifying. I certainly did not expect to wake in near pitch blackness, lit only by a few candles in the distance. I almost willed myself to move, but stopped once I found I was covered in some kind of cloth. A loud creak drew my attention to the far side of the room.

The twin doors there opened up, flooding the room with light for but a few moments in the form of a luminescent waterfall. As they shut and darkness returned, a presence could be felt. But this one was new, unfamiliar. It wasn't Meliana.

"Kynareth save you. You're feeling better?" The voice was female. I stopped all movements at the sound save for an uncertain nodding of my head, met with a relieved sigh. More candles lit up every which way, as though by their own. Curtains draping stained glass windows opened up, letting light flood in. I was in a temple for the goddess Kynareth, from the looks of it, and before me stood a priestess.

"A young Khajiit girl brought you to us, here in Whiterun. It is fortunate that we only have few patients in need of healing, so that I may focus my attention on you." I almost started to stand up, but instead decided to continue resting.

"What happened?" As I waited for a response, I looked around; to my left a statuette dedicated to the goddess, to my right a single other patient.

"You contracted Neck Nettles. It's a rare disease, one that I haven't seen in a great while. I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of it. It causes hardening of the throat, terrible pain around the area, and sometimes disruptions in sleep patterns." I instinctively felt the area around my throat, finding nothing. That explained the disease and the strangeness of my sleep, sort of, but what about Meliana?

"Who was it you said had brought me here?" I inquired again. This time, she was sure not to leave out any details.

"A Khajiit girl. She wore robes and a hood, if that's what you want to know. She didn't say much, save for you to have this note, for your eyes only." The priestess then pulled the slip of folded paper from a pocket in her robes and handed it to me. I reached out and took it, hesitant to read it.

Unfolded, the first thing I saw was a large crimson handprint. I gasped; there was no greater symbol of ill omen. Continuing to read the bottom elaborated its purpose:

_This one is to be put down by our elite. A Khajiit, Norn is the name; forget it not. Was recently seen heading north to Riverwood. May divert his path._

"By the Eight..." was all I could say. It baffled me to know that someone wanted to kill me. It certainly hadn't been enough time, even for the Dark Brotherhood, for the client to have been one of the farmers in Riverwood though, so who else could there be?

"Why is the Dark Brotherhood after me?" I muttered to myself. The priestess only heard a small bit of such.

"The what?" I looked directly at her, then shook my head.

"Nothing." She shrugged and turned her attention to one of her other patients. A Breton, clearly in his later years, and a farmer at that. He was dirty and unkempt, and clearly going through some kind of dire pain. Surely it was worse than what I went through, I surmised.

As I continued thinking about the dire situation, everything was suddenly starting to come together. The clouds in my head began to clear away, revealing a series of connected dots.

Meliana was the Dark Brotherhood assassin.

She had poisoned the water that she had urged me to drink with whatever gives Neck Nettles. I fell right into the trap. That all made sense now. But what didn't make sense was…why didn't she kill me? In fact, why did she _bring_ me to the Temple of Kynareth to recover?

The more I thought about it, the less order was brought to my mind. Was that whole kindness act merely a ruse? I recalled that right before I fell unconscious, Meliana seemed surprised by the fact that I had gotten another disease. _That_ was almost indisputably faked; she was waiting for it. But what about the rest—when she had nursed me back to health, given me food, went _out of her way_ to make sure I hadn't died from wolfbite? None of that had any sort of continuity.

The fact that she had given me the contract she had been assigned said something, too. It meant she had wanted me to figure this all out, or leastwise didn't expect me to know it was she who had been tasked with my death. Perhaps in light of the latter, she wanted me to be more careful? More wary of the Brotherhood's vendetta for me?

On top of it all, the reason for said vendetta was _still _unclear.

Thinking about it only raised more questions and tangled the web of events in my head even further. It was all I could do to keep it out of my mind.

**I thought the idea for Neck Nettles seemed pretty cool, and it made sense for there to be a poison used by the Dark Brotherhood that few had seen or known about. I wanted to point out in dialogue that it's actually a poison in and of itself, but it would make less sense for the priestess to know about its origins, so there's that. **

**At the time of this writing, this is as far as I have gotten. Again, I shall update as it comes along. Thanks for taking the time to read thus.**


	6. Inching Closer

I had no idea how much time had passed since then. It could have been a few hours, or perhaps it had been a whole day; in fact, the only reason I would have thought the former was because I had gotten not a wink of sleep during its entirety. I had gotten enough rest lately as far as I was concerned, anyway.

After said amount of time I was let go from the temple's care. I couldn't remember the last time I felt normal. I was glad to be free from the constant groans from the Breton and the odd smells that drifted through the air every now and then. Outside, I was surprised at how brightly the sun pierced my eyes; I had clearly been in the dark for far too long.

Thankfully, word had apparently not yet traveled to Whiterun about the Riverwood incident, and so I didn't get into any trouble. A few dirty looks from the thousand or so Nords that dominated the city, but that was commonplace and had nothing to do with anything I had actually done. However, the place was huge, so I did have to ask for directions—made all the more embarrassing by the fact that I was looking for the entrance.

Of course, I eventually made it out, no thanks to the snobbish Redguard man who appeared to have nothing better to do than mock everyone else for not being him. I felt like an idiot, sure, but I'm sure I wasn't the only person who wanted to give him a good punch.

I followed the cobbled trail just outside for a few moments before leaning on one of the stone supports. I had far too much on my mind for the moment.

Absently, I looked up as I thought. I had to make a goal. Otherwise it'd be back to aimless wandering with me. The only thing I could think about, unsurprisingly, was Meliana. She had come, gone, and left a multitude of confusing riddles.

If I was going to be heading anywhere, it had to be a place where I could find answers.

"This is ridiculous…" I muttered to myself. I thought before that meeting Meliana had made the whole chain of events worth something, but now it was all one big fiasco I'd rather not happened; of course, the kicker was that now that I was involved, there wasn't any leaving.

But where would I go? Going along that question, I had to think of where someone like Meliana would go—an assassin, but not a murderer. Okay, that made no sense even to me.

Near nobody knew where the Dark Brotherhood headquarters were, those who did would likely not tell me, and, hell, it would be idiotic to go anywhere near it. It was one of the few, if at all numbered, options I had before me, though. And so it was that I made likely the dumbest decision of my entire life: to find the Dark Brotherhood.

Not to say that I had any clue as to their whereabouts, as previously stated. But I had to start somewhere, of course. My train of thought lead me to realize that wherever they were, they would be secluded, so I would have to avoid the pathways that otherwise had symbolized safety.

And I did. For a great while, I hadn't even the slightest inclination of where I was going, but I traveled in what was closest one could get to a straight line, so I could simply turn around and end up in Whiterun again.

It was such carelessness that led to the base of some unforgiving mountain range somewhere far north. A canyon between two such peaks, to be exact. As I began ready to trudge forward, cliffs of stone hanging every which way above me, I heard a noise. It was one I would not likely forget soon after.

A growl, preceding a nasty roar. It was filled with a vile rage at some unknown cause—which I shortly found to be my intrusion.

An ape-like beast lumbered its way through the narrow pass, red of fur and thrice of eye. Its long, lanky arms ended in powerful, clawed fists, and its chest rippled with undeniable strength. The monster bared its teeth and slammed its arms on the ground threateningly as I gaped.

It might have left me alone after that had I ran, but I was frozen in place. At my paralysis it proceeded toward me, swinging its limbs madly. Thinking quickly as I could for the situation, I readied one of only three spells I could handle at the time. A dangerous heat filled the palms of my hands, and with a quick motion, it flung itself at the troll's hideous visage.

The impact, though magnificent, was surprisingly ineffective. The troll was forced back a few steps, giving me a bit of elbow room, and a bit of skin flaked off the face, but it shook itself and continued charging as though nothing had happened. Everything seemed to turn to slow motion as I prepared to try again, and I could see the very flesh that had burnt away began to regenerate at an alarming rate.

Another fiery blast, this time at the midsection. This seemed even more pathetic than the last, it having apparently already grown accustomed to the spell. I knew I needed to try something else. Out of sheer irony, the only other that could come to my head in the heat of battle was the very one that had started the whole chain of events

Rather than flame, an icy mist began to congeal in my fist. A large, sharpened crystal of ice appeared within the fog, and I launched it forward without even so much as aiming. I fell to my knees, my magical energy nearly spent after only three attacks. As I looked up, I found the results to be rather disastrous.

The crystal decided to imbed itself in the beast's cranium, piercing its brain quite mercilessly. Any blood that would have normally sprayed everywhere had already presumably frozen and stuck inside. Something had been with me, for I could never have done that on my own. No, it must surely have been some divine intervention. Or luck.

I stood up panting, unbelieving that I had taken down a troll with such meager experience in my possession. As I wiped the sweat from my brow, a sound caught my attention from above, atop the craggy rocks. Not a rustle or gale, but a voice. And I instantly recognized it.

"Hm, well done." I didn't even bother to look to know that it was Meliana.

Suddenly, by some terrible twitch or something similar, I unhesitatingly tossed another crystal her way, like a dart to a board. I looked almost worriedly at where it had gone, but she had trivialized the projectile with her speed, if only barely.

"I thought you said you were only a _small_ practitioner of magic?" She had quoted me almost word for word, and for once sounded genuinely startled.

"We all have surprises, don't we?" I said harshly. She got the hint.

"I suppose there's explaining to be done, yes."

"You're with the Brotherhood." I did not want to beat around the bush, absolutely spent with riddles.

"Good, you got the message. I would think that priestess read it regardless, but I suppose there are some people we can trust. I'm glad you were able to figure it out, too. It's going to make explaining this a lot easier on my part." I crossed my arms. Hopefully she was finally going to be the least bit straightforward.

"I'm in… a bit of a tangle, one might say. You can well assume I've gotten into my fair share of trouble. You know of the mages' college near Winterhold?"

"I do." The less words I spoke, the faster I would get answers.

"I was a little bit frivolous with my time there. I borrowed some money from a dark elf, a colleague there, for a bit of a boost for my studies that I needed dreadfully. When I couldn't return it in time, he threatened to tell the Arch-Mage that I was a dirty thief and deserved to be expelled—or I could take the second option."

"And what was that?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Serve the debt as a member of the Dark Brotherhood, with which he was affiliated. I could certainly have told the Arch-Mage—anyone, really—about that, but such ignorance would lead to a third option which, as I'm sure you can very well guess, would be much less pleasant." Her demeanor seemed almost solemn for but a moment.

"And so I was your target?" Meliana nodded nonchalantly.

"Mhmm. Of course, I couldn't kill you—especially when you were in such a pathetic state. That wouldn't be justice; that would be cruelty. And who would be the wiser when all they see is your lifeless body, even if for but a few moments?" My eyes widened—if I thought I had experienced an epiphany before, this succeeded it in every way.

"That all makes sense…" I said dumbly in my surprise, trailing off.

"But," I continued, remembering the one strand in the web that had remained unconnected, "what of the client? Who wanted to kill me, and why?" Her response brought disdain; that of an uncaring shrug.

"Isn't _that_ one of the many questions of life? I wasn't told the theoretical 'who' or the 'why', rather only the 'do'." Seeing me lower my head a little in disappointment, she continued.

"But why care? For all we know, there may not even have _been_ a client. After all, I was repaying a debt, not actively joining them. And if there is one, he or she thinks you're dead." She let me mull that over for a moment, and I absently looked up at her. So much time seemed to have passed, and she was still as beautiful as I had remembered. She continued speaking just in time to snap me out of my trance.

"I may yet have more work to do. I'll see if I can't catch a bit of information regarding our client, though. We'll meet again." Once more, she had disappeared right before my eyes, maneuvering the crags with perfect leaps as though they were stairs.

And so I was alone. Except for the smelly troll corpse a few feet in front of me.


	7. Darkness' Mercy

I was certainly not with desired company. They had allowed my entry with caution—one wrong move on my part was all the incentive needed for the slitting of my throat. In hindsight, it wasn't at all worth the gold. If only I'd had some foresight.

It wasn't too difficult to see the justice behind the Brotherhood's cause; want someone dead, have someone kill them. But this wasn't my place. I wasn't being welcomed as family; I was given admission for the sole purpose of avoiding a swift death. The bastard elf from the College was the one person whose death by my hand would in no way nag at my conscience, and words could not describe my anxiousness to do so.

Still, I'd made it so far unscathed. Not Astrid nor any of the other members suspected anything, not yet. For all they knew, Norn was dead. In all honesty, I couldn't help but think, even if for but a moment, that he might've been more trouble than he was worth. If I'd simply grown a backbone and killed him as instructed, I could have avoided the necessity to cover it up.

But at the same time… something made me believe I'd done the right thing. Maybe it was stupidity, maybe it was something greater—he was a nice enough fellow, if a little bit naïve. Besides, I understand myself well enough to know that I couldn't kill someone for no good reason. That led me to think, however; he had made a surprisingly good point before, about why he was the target. Was it true that he had angered someone so much as to invoke the Brotherhood?

I didn't know, but I supposed I was about to find out. I approached the door for the third time. A skeletal figure laid on its foundation, the telltale symbol of the Brotherhood. Again the voice behind asked its question.

"Silence, my brother."

And again it bid me welcome.

All seemed as empty for a few moments. No sound anywhere except for the faintest of breezes from outside.

Even when I realized a presence to my right, even when I noticed that the silence was purposeful, there was no sound, not even from me.

"Welcome back."

I stayed silent as Astrid approached, swaying her hips ever so slightly. If she was talking to me, it would have purpose. And if it had a purpose, I wanted her to say it as quickly as possible.

"Pulling the quiet card again, I see. Fine, I don't think there's much to say." She drew a hand underneath my chin as she continued.

"You didn't do as instructed."

My heart seemed to trip over its own pace and then continued running at breakneck speeds.

"Neck Nettles. Very clever, cat. I wouldn't have expected you to be so… keen." I swallowed hard and hoped she didn't notice, lest she catch onto my fear.

"My apologies." I said guiltily. She only chuckled knowingly.

"It is not you I'm upset with. It's that fool elf… Darenvir," she said with a hiss.

"He should know better than to be so open to strangers. To give invitation to the Brotherhood and reveal our location over a petty sack of coins? Idiocy.

"Anyhow. It's not surprising that someone like you didn't so readily opt to killing. I don't blame you. Though in spite of that, you remained faithful. I find that impressive." At this my muscles loosened up. She was getting at something important.

"And you aren't going to kill me?" There was a moment of pause as Astrid tilted her head left and then right, as though considering my question.

"Ah… I suppose not. I thought it obvious that I'd be glad you didn't rat us out the first chance you got. Better, you tried harder than any old newcomer would to succeed at your task—and just between you and me, you almost had me fooled. That's worthy of my respect."

"…Thank you." I tried to sound as sincere as possible, though it was a little hard to be flattered by earning the respect of a murdering guild's leader.

"As for your debt… consider it repaid. You've all but proven yourself in my eyes, and it wasn't exactly my intention to get you wrapped up with us in the first place. However…" she paused for a moment and drew close, forcing me back a few steps.

"I _assume_ I can trust you with the location of our headquarters?" It took me a bit to register her words as I bit my lip, then I nodded vigorously.

"Yes, of course. I'm no fool."

"Watch the tongue, cat. But yes, good. You know what happens when you break our little promise. You may go." I held a hand out as she began to turn, and she paused.

"Something else?"

"Norn. Who wanted him dead?" I asked quickly. Astrid let out a small laugh that emitted an odd wave of condescendence.

"I wouldn't be the one to ask. It's not your place to know. That would be under normal circumstances, of course.

"I suppose it was only a matter of time until the question came up. Don't you get it, though? Maybe he's innocent, maybe he's a criminal. I wouldn't know. But as long as one gets the job done, whoever dies doesn't really matter." Astrid brushed her fingers through her dirty hair and crossed her arms, smiling again.

"I've said too much already. This is your home no longer; off with you." I couldn't help feeling at least a little less uncomfortable around her now.

"My thanks. Perhaps one day we'll meet again. Preferably under more friendly circumstances." I turned and began to walk to the door. However, it was her turn to stop my leave.

"If you'd wish to join the family, you've already proven your mettle. Come back when you decide."

I stopped for but a moment, thinking thoughts one should probably not think, and left without another word.


End file.
